Just a few weeks ago, I got the chance to attend one of Apple's trademark launch events in San Francisco. I've been to more than a dozen of these over the years, and this one had all of the hallmarks: a line to get into the building, a line to get into the auditorium, a mad scrum to find a seat with power and decent line of sight for photography. At the end of the day, Apple refreshed a bunch of products: a new iPhone 6s, Apple TV, watchOS 2, tvOS, iOS 9, and a huge new iPad Pro. Dig into the details and a lot of these improvements are only incremental, which led a lot of journalists, including some on PC Magazine's staff, to call the event a failure. I think that's a mistake.

One of the coolest new features demoed at the event was Live Photos. Take a picture with a new iPhone 6s and the phone will capture a Live Photo by default. You'll still get a still snapshot, but the camera will also capture the image and audio of a brief period before and after you press the shutter button, with the final effect being something akin to a 3-second video. Apple refuses to call it that, of course, but what else do you call moving pictures with audio?

The effects will double the size of your images, but Live Photos are undeniably cool. As I was gushing over it to PC Magazine's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, he rolled his eyes. "It is HTC's Zoe," he said dryly. That's right: HTC offered pretty much the same feature on its One M7 way back in 2013. I had no idea. Obviously, it didn't catch on.

My naïveté aside, there is nothing wrong with this. Apple didn't invent Live Photos, but it will make the idea work where HTC couldn't. Zoe videos could only be viewed on the HTC One M7. Live Photos can be viewed on any device running iOS 9 or the latest version of Mac OS. Plus, Apple is working to make Live Photos viewable in your Facebook newsfeed by the end of year. Where should we give the credit, for the invention or for making the invention work?

Or take the case of the Apple TV. Apple started selling it way back in 2007, making it one of the earliest streaming TV players. Since then, the product has languished a bit, falling behind Roku, Amazon Fire, and Google Chromecast in terms of sales. It's also lost a step in terms of technology: The Amazon Fire Stick has had voice controls for more than a year. Apple wants to turn that around with the new Apple TV, which comes with a cleaner interface, better hardware, and Siri integration. Some may think this is too little too late. PC Magazine's consumer electronics guru, Will Greenwald, put it pretty succinctly in his story titled "The New Apple TV is Late to the Party" (which you can read in the Opinions section).

Will is right. Despite being one of the first products to deliver streaming video to the living room, the Apple TV is playing catch-up. Apple doesn't care. There isn't much revenue in this space, and the marketing is still split among Amazon, Google, Roku, and game consoles. Now Apple has better hardware, a cleaner interface, and a voice-based assistant in the living room. Apple doesn't want to be first, it wants to be last.

This is an "S" year for the iPhone, which means the iPhone doesn't change much. Indeed, unless you spot the model with the new "rose gold" color, there's no difference from the iPhone 6. Even so, Apple has added some new features here, too. What the company calls 3D Touch is pretty much the same thing as Force Touch on the MacBook: Push down hard and you can trigger actions that are different from what you get with a simple tap. It works and does a lot to maximize the utility of a phone's small screen. Apple also bumped up the camera resolution to 12 megapixels and added a screen-based selfie flash to the rear-facing camera. Plus, Apple claims the 6s' new A9 processor is 80 percent faster than the A8. Not bad for an "S" year.

To understand Apple's kind of innovation, you need to step back and look at how the pieces fit together. When Apple gets something right, it tends to stick with it. That's why the iMac and MacBook Air haven't really changed in years. The iPhone form factor is settling into the same pattern. That said, the platform keeps moving forward. The new and improved Apple TV is going to be a boon for Apple Music. Consumers will be able to use a Siri-enabled Apple TV to navigate Apple Music's vast catalog directly from the sound system connected to their HDTV. It's those second-order benefits that keep Apple ahead.

As a gadget guy, I love new hardware as much as anyone else. But these days, the most interesting innovation is happening inside these devices, and, just as important, in the data-filled gaps in between our devices. Apple gets that.

Read More

About the Author

Dan Costa is the Editor-in-Chief of PCMag.com and the Senior Vice President of Content for Ziff-Davis. He oversees the editorial operations for PCMag.com, Geek.com, ExtremeTech.com as well as PCMag's network of blogs, including AppScout and SecurityWatch. Dan makes frequent appearances on local, national, and international news programs, including ... See Full Bio

Get Our Best Stories!

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.